TRADE
ORGANISATIONS BACK MGM IN CASE AGAINST GROKSTER
Numerous trade organisations representing copyright owners across
the entertainments industry have filed a 'friend of court' brief
to the US Supreme Court urging them to reverse an appeals court
decision regarding the Grokster MGM case. Which is nice of them.

This
is the latest attempt by the entertainment industry to stop
P2P companies like Grokster from using the 'Betamax plea' when
charged with enabling mass copyright infringement - that is
to say, they argue that they make technology with legitimate
uses, and can therefore not be held liable should the public
choose to use that technology to illegally share copyrighted
material. The US courts have generally accepted that excuse,
much to the annoyance of music, film and games companies who
want the courts to force the P2P makers out of business.

With
the Grokster MGM case due to go before the Supreme Court this
Spring, the 'friend of court' brief, signed by organisations
representing content owners in over 100 countries, including
the Recording Industry Association of America and International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry, argues that the lower
US court's decision in favour of Grokster denies international
rights owners effective protection in the US against copyright
infringement on a 'massive and unprecedented scale', which in
turn sets a negative precedent across the globe.

It
remains to be seen how the Supreme Court respond. Many feel
only a change in the law will enable content owners to properly
challenge P2P companies. As previously reported, some work on
that front is already under way in Congress.

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LABELS
BID FOR OASIS
A bidding war is underway to sign up Oasis, who complete their
current deal with Sony on the release of their forthcoming album
this May. Word is both EMI and V2 have offered three album deals
reportedly worth more than £15 million, leading to speculation
that Sony will come in with a bigger offer sometime soon.

Ireland
Online quote one industry insider as saying: "Various record
labels have been waiting patiently for the contract to end.
Now it's a question of who puts the most money down on the table.
Everybody wants Liam and Noel. They are still an act who can
sell millions of records."

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JACKO
PROSECUTION DENY LEAKING TESTIMONIES
The Santa Barbara Sheriff's department has denied being the
source of those leaked grand jury documents relating to the
ongoing Michael Jackson child abuse case. As previously reported,
US TV network ABC earlier this month reported on the testimony
Jacko's accuser gave to the grand jury investigating the case
- a testimony which was covered by Judge Rodney Melville's strict
media gag order.

In
a statement issued this week Santa Barbara Sheriff's department
- the prosecutors in the Jacko case - said that they considered
the leak of the testimony a violation of the law, that they
were investigating the leak, and that media reports someone
in their department was responsible for the leak was untrue.
Their statement ran thus: "We consider the release of these
materials to be a violation of the law. Some media commentators
have alleged that we are responsible for these leaks. We are
not. These accusations are irresponsible, unfounded and untrue."

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NEW
CAREY DELAYED
Bad news for all you Mariah Carey fans out there. The release
of her comeback album - 'The Emancipation Of Mimi' - has been
put back a month because bosses at Universal's Island Def Jam
Records reckon they need more time to promote the new long player,
which includes collaborations with bankable acts like Snoop
Dogg, Kanye West and Jermaine Dupri.

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RINGO
STARR THE SUPERHERO
From our 'bizarre stories involving Ringo Starr' file (you'll
remember how we reported at the end of last year how Ringo was
tracking Santa Claus' Christmas Eve journey across the UK for
US defence agency Norad), and news that legendary comic book
pioneer Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment company is to launch an
original cartoon series featuring the Beatles drummer as a reluctant
evil-battling, earth-saving superhero (with a great sense of
rhythm of course). Lee's company will develop the superhero
project with Ringo and his entertainment company Rocca Bella
with„TV, DVD, publishing and merchandising extensions planned.

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ALICE
COOPER TOUR
Well, get this in your diaries - Alice Cooper will be touring
the UK in Nov, supported by Twisted Sister. Dates as follows:

DJ
FORMAT TOUR
Well, there we were discussing what DJ Format was up to and,
as if by some kind of clever email style telepathy, a press
release arrived in the in-box telling me he was releasing a
new album in Apr, that a limited edition one sided 12"
of a track called 'Rap Machine' was out now, that the first
proper single off the album would be '3 Feet Deep' on 14 Mar,
and that before that Mr Format will be playing live with MC
Abdominal & D-Sisive for a small bunch of low key dates
as follows:

ALBUM
REVIEW: Longview - Mercury / Subversions (14th Floor Records)
Longview make slightly morose, stadium-esque Manc rock that
marks them out as a more earnest, albeit less memorable, version
of Doves. This re-release of their debut album comes with 'Subversions',
a bonus CD of remixes culled from the album's singles. With
only five remixers given the source material to re-interpret,
it's a little bit of a missed opportunity, but nonetheless there's
some interesting fare here. Jack Knife Lee houses things up
a bit on 'Further'; the results are akin to New Order having
caught a severe case of flu-rock. Andy Votel's oompah glamscape
on 'I Would' is quite fun, whilst Mogwai and Elbow turn in more
sedate efforts, the former a filmic piano instrumental on 'In
A Dream'; the latter's 'Further' a gorgeously dubby lullaby.
Shining out brightest through the gothic murk though are the
gem-like remixes of 'Can't Explain' and 'Will You Wait Here'
by rising electronica star Ulrich Schnauss. The German does
his usual trick of piling on shimmering layers of resplendent
electronic sound, conjuring up images of the best stuff Slowdive
might've released had they fully realised their brief electronic
adventures. As the waves wash over you it's impossible not to
luxuriate in the aural radiance. Like a floatation tank for
the ears. MS
Release date: 31 Jan
Press contact: Warner IH [all]

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WE
ARE THE WORLD TO BE RE-RELEASED
The track created by the American version of the original Band
Aid project - 'We Are The World' - is going to be re-released
in the States to raise cash for AIDS research and tsunami victims.
The re-release of the track, which featured Diana Ross, Ray
Charles, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen among others, will
coincide with the track's 20th anniversary. It will be re-released
as a two disk set on 1 Feb, including a DVD with footage of
the recording of the track. No word yet on whether it will get
a UK release.

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REM
TO HEADLINE IOW FEST
An Isle of Wight website has revealed that REM will headline
this year's Isle Of Wight festival in Jun. That date will slot
into the band's current world tour, which features a number
of arena dates next month, then a series of open air dates in
Jun and Jul.

SANCTUARY
ISSUE PROFITS WARNING
Sanctuary Music have blamed losses made by its book publishing
division and a £11.4 million bad debt for the profit warning
it issued yesterday, the first such warning it has had to issue
since becoming a public company. Shares in Sanctuary fell by
14% after the surprise announcement regarding profits, two days
ahead of the release of the company's preliminary financial
results, expected tomorrow.

Sanctuary's
books business, which specialises in both sport and music titles,
lost £2.1 million last year when analysts expected it
to break even. The bad debt relates to the sale back in 2003
of children's TV production company Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment,
the new owners of which are yet to enjoy the success required
to fulfill their payment obligations to Sanctuary.

The
effect of the book publishing loss and bad debt is that the
group's pre-tax profits for the last financial year are likely
to be £2 million less than the anticipated £18 million.
However Sanctuary's management stress the group's core businesses
- artist management, live events, merchandising and its record
labels - all "performed to expectations", and overall
things remain healthy, which is just as well given that Sanctuary
are pioneering a business model what we reckon is the future
of the music industry - single companies that operate in all
of the key sectors of the music world.

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FEDS
SET TO CHARGE HIP HOP MOGUL
Here's an interesting one - we're hearing rumours that the FBI
are close to moving in on a prominent hip hop mogul on charges
of money laundering. That's all we know - more when we get it.

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MALAYSIA
LEGISLATORS REVIEW PIRACY PENALTIES
One of the countries with a particularly bad record for cracking
down on major music and video piracy is reviewing its copyright
violation laws. Legislators in Malaysia will next week review
the country's Copyright Act and are reportedly considering adding
a mandatory jail sentence to anyone involved in the making or
selling of pirated music or movie releases.

In
theory piracy in Malaysia is already punishable by up to five
years in jail, however the way the law is written and enforced
means those caught in the act generally receive much lesser
sentences. Both the local and global music industry hopes the
law review will raise both fines and sentences, and at the same
time that legislators will increase law enforcement efforts
to catch and prosecute the pirates.

Lending
his support to the law review, Tan Ngiap of the Recording Industry
Association of Malaysia told reporters this week: "This
will be an effective deterrent to get the retailers of the pirated
products off the streets. Offenders are not bothered by fines
as they are supported by organised crime syndicates with lots
of money."

In
reality the sale of bootleg CDs is a much bigger problem for
the music industry than the higher profile issue of online piracy,
and moves such as those being made by Malaysian authorities
will be welcomed by record labels the world over.

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LENNOX
AND MELUA ADDED TO 46664 BILL
Annie Lennox and Katie Melua are the latest acts to be confirmed
on the bill for the second 46664 concert, which is due to take
place in South Africa on 19 Mar in aid of Nelson Mandela's campaign
to tackle the AIDS crisis in Africa. Queen and Paul Rodgers
are already confirmed to play at the fundraiser.

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MOLOKO
ROISON SETS DATE FOR SOLO OUTING
Moloko's Roison Murphy will release her debut solo album in
May, which a series of three limited edition EPs released in
between now and then - the first one, 'Sequins 1', is
out now.

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BECK
ON THE NEW ALBUM
Beck has been speaking to Rolling Stone magazine about his long
awaited new long player 'Guero', the follow up to 2002's 'Sea
Change', which is due out on 21 Mar. Having worked with former
collaborators The Dust Brothers word is the album sees a return
to the 'classic', funk-based Beck sound. The man himself told
Rolling Stone: "It's pretty aggressive. I've been working
on it for a while, but I ended up doing 'Sea Change' first.
I've been wanting to do a record with loud guitars for a long
time."

--------------------------------------------------

QOTSA
TO PLAY TWO GIGS IN ONE NIGHT
Queens Of The Stone Age have confirmed they will play two London
gigs on the same night on 3 Mar, ahead of the release of new
album 'Lullabies To Paralyze' on 21 Mar. The first of the two
gigs will take place at the Camden Underworld (teatime-ish)
- they will then head to Koko for a 9pm gig.

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STUDENT
MUSIC AWARDS KICK OFF TONIGHT
The National Student Music Awards are back! Yep, the 2005 NSMA's
kick off tonight at ULU with a special launch party featuring
Skinny Sumo, the winners of the 2001 awards. Then, throughout
Feb and Mar, heats will take place involving the 30 bands picked
from the hundreds of demos send in by college bands over the
last three months - each of the heats will be followed
by a headline set from Chikinki. Winners of each heat will them
go through to semi-finals, before a full final on 11 May. Tonight's
party is by invite only - for info drop an email to info@nsma.com
Tonight's party also sees the official launch of NSMA's collaboration
with SUBtv, the college TV network beamed into students' union
bars across the country. Each of the finalists will be filming
a SUBsession for SUBtv which will be premiered tonight, before
being screening in colleges around the country. Press enquiries
on the SUBsessions to SUBtv on 020 7881 2536.

Talking
of battle of the bands contests, the winners of the unsigned
band competition run by independent music retailer Fopp last
year will play at a special bash in Bristol on 3 Feb -
more on that tomorrow.

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SINGLE
REVIEW: Doves - Black And White Town (EMI/Heavenly)
Doves' long-awaited third album should rightly be the most feverishly-anticipated
guitar album this year, but the first single from it is curiously
muted. It's brilliant in its own way, just frustratingly not
as monumentally inspiring as some of their previous singles.
A confident, jaunty Northern Soul track, it lacks the sprawling
majesty of 'There Goes The Fear', say, or the relentless, anthemic
genius of 'Pounding'. As a mere pop song, 'Black And White Town'
is fine, but, purged of the melancholy that defined much of
their first album in particular, it does worryingly suggest
that with contentment (and who wouldn't wish them that after
all they've been through?) they might've lost some of the edge
that made them great. (Oh, just ignore me, I'm probably worrying
over nothing...it's just I expect so much from the boys.) A
Single Of The Year by anyone else's standards, maybe, just not
by theirs. But a very welcome return, obviously. MS
Release date: 7 Feb
Press contact: EMI IH [all]

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BEN
FOLDS RETURNS
Ben Folds returns with his long awaited new album 'Songs For
Silverman' in Apr, and about time too. The much anticipated
new album (well, we've been much anticipating it) is due on
25 Apr on Sony.

--------------------------------------------------

RADIO
4 RETURN
Given that a health scare forced Radio 4 to cancel their November
tour, the band are playing a special London gig at ULU on 17
Feb ahead of the release of new single 'Nation' on 21 Feb. The
band's Anthony Roman told CMU: "During The Libertines US
tour in October, I experienced stomach ailments that got increasingly
worse. Upon doctor's orders we were forced to take two months
off. Now that I've been given the all-clear, we are very excited
to return to the UK."

The
new single comes complete with remixes by Mad Professor / Darkfantom
& Stilzy, featuring Lee Scratch Perry, something the band,
as serious fans of dub and reggae, are very excited about. Roman:
"The idea of working with Lee Perry seemed so ridiculously
improbable that I thought the label was joking! Everyone in
Radio 4 has been big fans of his music for a long time. We used
to listen to 'People Funny Boy' every day and thought about
adding it to our live set. Blackboard Jungle is one of my favorite
dub records ever and the tracks he did with Bob Marley are the
best things Marley did by far - check the version of 'Sun is
Shining'. I even named my cat after Scratch Perry!"

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VOLKSWAGEN
TO SUE OVER CONTROVERSIAL FAKE AD
Volkswagen is due to take legal action against the mystery duo
who made that controversial fake Polo car advert that has been
doing the rounds on the web. The ad features an Arabic looking
man who drives his Polo car up to a London restaurant where
he sets off a suicide bomb. However, the car contains the bomb
blast, leading to the slogan "Polo: small but tough"
(it's funnier than it sounds but, needless to say, is really
rather sick).

Volkswagen
say they have decided to take legal action against the creators
of the fake ad because it damages their reputation and falsely
links VW with terrorism. The only snag is, they're not sure
where the duo of ad creatives who created the ad live. In an
official statement the company says: "We are taking legal
action but because it's early stages we cannot comment further".
Meanwhile, in a memo revealed by the Guardian the company says:
"We are prepared to pursue the two individuals but need
to locate them to ensure the success of our legal claim".

The
ad's creators have apologised for any offence caused by their
spoof, while its director has told the Guardian it was intended
for a showreel and never meant to be seen by the public: "I
just wanted it for show reel purposes, not seen by millions
of people around the world. I don't want to offend people, I
just want to make advertisements. I wanted to show it to the
Saatchis and BBHs of this world. Little did I know that the
advert that I made would be sent out on the internet and create
such a fuss - it's shocked me."

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CHARLATANS
FANS INFECTED WITH VOMITING DISEASE AT GIG
You see this is why I don't go to gigs. An inquiry into why
hundreds of Charlatans fans suffered from the wonderfully named
Winter Vomiting Disease after a gig in Aberdeen has discovered
that the outbreak began with one fan suffering from food poisoning.
That fan threw up on the steps outside the venue hosting the
gig. Other fans then walked through the vomit bringing it into
the venue. Germs in the vomit them got into the air conditioning
infecting a third of the audience. Wonderful.

--------------------------------------------------

MCFADDEN
HADN'T HEARD OF GOODREM BEFORE DUET
Brian McFadden has admitted he had never heard of new girlfriend
Delta Goodrem before they worked together on a track. He heard
one of her songs on the radio in a taxi and asked the driver
who it was. He then approached her record label about a possibly
duet - who said no. So he then sent a demo tape straight
to the Aussie singer, and she agreed to collaborate.

McFadden
told Radio 1: "I made a demo and I sent it straight to
Australia to her. She received it and she had no idea who I
was, because Westlife were never big in Australia. So she listened
to the song and she loved it, we got a phone call about four
days later saying she wanted to do it. I suppose the song is
how we met. But when we're doing the song now it's still a professional
relationship. We're going out promoting together and whatever
happens in our private life is a separate thing altogether."

The
McFadden / Goodrem duet, 'Almost Here', was released on Monday.

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BUSTED
BOY GETS OVER DOUBLE SPLIT
For future reference, here's what you do if your girlfriend
dumps you the day after your bandmate forces your chart topping
pop band to split up. According to the Mirror, ex-Busted singer
James Bourne spent the night with four girls in a flat above
a strip club after his girlfriend dumped him shortly after the
Busted split. According to the paper James, who was seen kissing
the girls at London's Pangaea nightclub, was having "such
a good time" that he then joined the harem for a private
party after the club closed. And why not?